Smithfield Kill-floor Workers Call Heat A Danger

May 16, 2000|By KEITH RUSHING Daily Press

SMITHFIELD — Kill-floor workers employed by Gwaltney of Smithfield say they are risking illness or death this summer if Smithfield Foods officials don't do something to cool temperatures on the plant's kill floor.

Smithfield Foods owns both Smithfield Packing Co. and Gwaltney of Smithfield, which are just yards apart on North Church Street.

Last year, 29-year-old Andrew Hardy suffered a heat stroke and died at Smithfield Medical Center minutes after being treated for heat-related symptoms while working on Smithfield Packing Co.'s kill floor. Four workers at the plant were treated for heat-related illnesses later that month.

Faith Hoffstaetter, who has been a Gwaltney kill- floor worker for three years, says unless the company acts now, she and her co-workers are in danger.

Hoffstaetter is one of about a dozen workers who spoke out about heat on the kill floor last week. Most asked that their names not be used. Almost all said the company needs to do something to lower temperatures.

Company officials didn't reveal temperatures on the kill floor last year or this year. However, workers say temperatures exceed outside conditions by about 20 degrees.

Smithfield Foods, a $5 billion company, is the world's largest hog producer and pork processor.

Kill-floor workers start out at about $9 per hour.

Hoffstaetter said she and many of the other 150 or so employees have gotten dizzy, become nauseated or gotten stomach cramps as a result of excessive heat over the years.

One worker described conditions as "hot as hell." Most said conditions of the kill floor cannot be understood by anyone who hasn't worked there.

Workers might have a good reason to be concerned this year. The National Weather Service is predicting higher than normal temperatures in southern Virginia this summer - a season when daily highs hover around the 90-degree mark.

And company officials seem to be taking fewer measures to address the heat this year than they did last year.

After Hardy's death, kill-floor workers at both plants were given an additional 10-minute break on days when the outside temperature exceeded 90 degrees. But workers say that when heat has surpassed 90 degrees this year, they didn't get the additional break.

Jerry Jordan, another Gwaltney kill-floor worker, said he's upset with company managers because he has asked them to install air conditioners or devise other ways to reduce kill-floor heat. Jordan says he hasn't gotten a response.

"If they want us to put out 100 percent they have to give us 100 percent," he said.

The tall and muscular Jordan said he hasn't gotten sick from the heat but believes it's "harming" him and all workers.

"You drink water all day but you sweat so much that when you go to pee at night nothing comes out," said Jordan.

Jordan said he's tired of waiting for a response from managers and is planning to start a petition drive to demand solutions.

Hoffstaetter works on the head table, where she wields an electric knife to cut meat out of 2,200 hog heads a day. Hoffstaetter has to cut out the cheek meat, scrape meat off the back of head and take off the snouts before she moves on to another hog head.

She and the three other workers at the head table have to keep up with the assembly line that enables kill-floor workers to process about 8,800 hogs a day, leaving some workers exhausted at the end of their shifts.

Hoffstaetter said she was overcome by heat in July, given an ice pack by a nurse and placed in front of a fan so her body could cool down. She said that when her blood pressure dropped she was sent back to work but "I didn't really feel well enough to work."

She said she was so disoriented when she got off work that she had to wait for about an hour before she felt well enough to drive home.

Hoffstaetter said she's not going to take any more chances even if a company nurse advises her to go back to work.

"Next time I'll just leave," she said.

Hoffstaetter said Smithfield Foods procedures for dealing with heat-related illnesses should be made public.

She and other kill-floor workers are required to wear a smock that resembles a butcher's coat underneath a plastic outer garment. They are also required to wear gloves and boots, which trap heat against the body.

An employee who has worked at Gwaltney for 13 years said she has suffered from dizziness in past years when temperatures were high.

"They've got to do something to make it cooler," she said.

Another worker said he passed out about a month ago and had to be taken to the nurse's office. He said that he regularly struggles to get through the day.

The temperature on the kill floor, where hot water is sprayed near vats of scalding water and open flames, rises when the outdoor temperature rises. Fans line the kill floor amid Gatorade stations and water fountains.